Baseball Tips Newsletter # 40

Vol. 3 Issue 8 - June 2, 2004

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In This Issue...

From the Dugout of Coach John Peter
Baseball Bytes: Pitching Mechanics
Featured Article: 10 Things Kids Say They Don't Want Their Parents to Do
Featured Products
NCAA College Baseball Regional Schedules
Feedback From
Instructional Articles
Baseball Instructors

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Tips From the Dugout of Coach John Peter

The biggest flaws I see in the swings of youth baseball players....
1. Dead Hands - Hands start the swing (ok, technically, hands and the front knee hinge). Remember, when the pitcher separates his hands, the bat needs to begin some kind of movement toward the load position.
2. Hands Casting Too Far From The Body - This produces a slow swing and eliminates utilizing the largest muscles in the body's core (from above the knee to below the bottom rib). To be your quickest, keep your hands no more than 4-6 inches away from the chest as long as possible.
3. Front Shoulder Flies Open - Keep the shoulder closest to the pitcher on a line with the pitcher.for as long as possible. (This will also help players hit the ball up the middle, which should help increase hard hits and decrease strikeouts).
4. No Hip Turn - Young hitters tend to hit with their arms. Wrong. This produces weak ground balls. Completely turn the back foot AND get up on the toes, or at least the ball of the foot.
5. The Front Knee Collapses - Simply put, the front leg MUST be stiff, whether using a stride or no-stride approach.
Helpful Hitting Aids

Instructo Swing
Stay Back Hitting Tee

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Baseball Bytes: Pitching Mechanics
From the video Pitching From the Ground Up by Bob Bennett

3 Things to Remember About Pitching
Get these 3 things done and then we can maximize our pitching effort.

Good balance
Good thrust coming off the rubber to throw to the plate
Good angles and direction (alignment)

From the Stretch Position
In the stretch position, what is important is the feet. When you get there you place your foot on the rubber and make sure your feet are not very far apart, not more than 6-8 inches.
Occasionally somebody will be a little bit wider but generally it's a fellow who is really tall; he might want to get out a little bit further. But the further you get out with your front foot the slower it's going to make you in the delivery to home plate, so we want to make sure our feet are close together.
You have unlocked knees with just a slight flex in them. We want to make sure the weight's on the ball of the foot of the inside of the push off foot..Make sure the front shoulder is closed, the knees are unlocked and you're ready to make a good approach to home plate.

Separation of Hands
What we're talking about with the separation of hands is how you separate once you come from either a wind-up delivery or a stretch delivery. We want that separation of the hands to be at the same point from the wind-up as it is in the stretch. The hands breaking at the same place give us some consistency.
The midline of the body is extremely important to the break of the hands. We want the break to be in the midline and separate from there. Otherwise, you have a long distance to get the ball into throwing position.
The other thing that is important about the break of the hands is that they should be soft, not hard. At separation, make sure you drop your fingertips down when they drop out of the glove so they bottom out.
The essential point we are getting at is when I'm on the pitching rubber and I land my front foot, I want to have my hand above the head.

Pitching From the Ground Up - Only $39.95
A detailed overview for teaching sound pitching mechanics, this video breaks down and explains the key components of the pitching delivery. Coach Bob Bennett demonstrates all techniques with members of his Fresno State pitching staff and also explains how to throw 6 different types of pitches.
58 minutes
"It's amazing when you start teaching pitching that when you work from the feet first, you correct a lot of things in the upper part of the body before you get to them."
- Coach Bennett

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Featured Article

10 Things Kids Say They Don't Want Their Parents to Do
Dr. Darrell J. Burnett, Certified Sports Psychologist
Dr. Burnett specializes in youth sports issues and his list of 10 don'ts for parents are designed to make sure that youth sports are positive experiences for kids. Your child's baseball coach will also benefit from an adherence to these rules.
[ article excerpt ]

Don't yell out instructions.
During the game I'm trying to concentrate on what the coach says and working on what I've been practicing. It's easier for me to do my best if you save instructions and reminders for practice or just before the game.

Don't put down the umpires.
This embarrasses me and I sometimes wonder whether the umpire is going to be tougher on me because my parents yell.

Don't yell at me in public.
It will just make things worse because I'll be upset, embarrassed, or worried that you're going to yell at me the next time I do something "wrong."

Don't yell at the coach.
When you yell about who gets to play what position, it just stirs things up and takes away from the fun.

Don't put down my teammates.
Don't make put-down remarks about any of my teammates who make mistakes. It takes away from our team spirit.......

   Read the rest of the article

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Featured Products at Baseball Tips.com

Order online in our secure shopping cart or call toll free at 1-800-487-7432 (9-6 EST).
The Armed and Ready Throwing Program by Alan Jaeger
The Armed and Ready Program Arm Health & Conditioning Program
A systematic throwing program designed to help players and coaches understand what steps must be taken to develop and sustain a strong, durable, accurate, and injury-free arm. Adopted by over 100 professional players, including 2002 Cy Young winner Barry Zito.

4 Phases of Arm Exercise Covered
Arm Circles | Surgical Tubing | Throwing Mechanics | Long Toss

Gary Adams, UCLA Head Coach: I would urge any coach, any parent, any player to take up this program -- start it today because you are going to see amazing results, amazing development and it's also going to prevent injuries.

Radar Bucket - Only $239
Large Display Readout Accurate up to 150 mph
Pitchers at all levels of the game will benefit from the Radar Bucket, which uses Doppler radar technology. The Radar Bucket shows a pitcher the effects that various grips & releases have on every pitch. It's less expensive than traditional baseball radar guns and allows for instant feedback.
As an added bonus, you can use the Radar Bucket to measure bat speed.
Coach JP: Besides being a great training aid, the Radar Bucket is perfect for a speed pitch fundraiser. It's cheaper than a radar gun and doesn't require a separate display unit.

Machine Pitch Dimple Balls - By the dozen
5 oz. - Official Size and Weight
Baseball Tips carries yellow dimple balls by the dozen. Coach JP and the manufacturer's warning labels generally urge the use of machine pitch dimple balls with most pitching machines. They cause less wear and tear on the wheel, making the pitches more accurate.
Coach JP: Our dimple balls are the same size and weight as leather baseballs, but they fly straighter and last longer. Plus they are easier on player's hands and bats.

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NCAA College Baseball Regionals

The field of 64 is set and the road to Omaha begins on Friday, June 4 with 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals.
The SEC set a record with nine selections, while Miami is making their 32nd straight appearance to extend its NCAA record. The tournament features eight first-time entries: Birmingham-Southern, UC Irvine, College of Charleston, Jacksonville State, St. Bonaventure, Stony Brook, Texas Southern and Youngstown State.
Rice University is the defending national champion, while 38 of the 64 teams were in the field last year. Texas goes into the tournament ranked # 1, followed by South Carolina, Miami, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Rice, Arizona State, and Arkansas.
The winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, played June 11-13. The eight winners of the super regionals make it to the College World Series, which starts June 18 in Omaha.
Regional Schedules
* All games listed below will be played on Friday, June 4.
Elimination games will be on June 5 & 6.
Charlottesville, VA Regional
Vanderbilt (42-17) vs. George Mason (39-17), 3 p.m.
Princeton (27-18) at Virginia (42-13), 7 p.m.
Austin, TX Regional
Oral Roberts (48-9) vs. TCU (38-24), 2 p.m.
Youngstown State (22-30) at Texas (50-13), 8 p.m.

Tallahassee, FL Regional
Oklahoma State (37-22) vs. Central Florida (44-16), 3 p.m.
Bethune-Cookman (27-26) at Florida State (42-20), 7 p.m.
Fayetteville, AR Regional
Wichita State (47-14) vs. Missouri (37-21-1), 3 p.m.
LeMoyne (36-19) at Arkansas (39-21), 8 p.m.

Palo Alto, CA Regional
Long Beach State (36-19) vs. St. John's (36-21), 5 p.m.
UNLV (37-22) at Stanford (44-12), 9 p.m.
South Bend, IN Regional
Kent State (35-25) at Notre Dame (49-10), 3 p.m.
UC Irvine (34-21-1) vs. Arizona (30-24-1), 7 p.m.

Athens, GA Regional
Middle Tennessee (40-20) at Georgia (38-20), 3 p.m.
Clemson (36-24) vs. Birmingham-Southern (46-16), 7 p.m.
Atlanta, GA Regional
Texas Tech (38-19) vs. Mississippi State (34-22), 3 p.m.
Jacksonville State (31-27) at Georgia Tech (41-19), 7 p.m.

Columbia, SC Regional
North Carolina (41-19) vs. Coastal Carolina (40-21), 2 p.m.
The Citadel (38-26) at South Carolina (45-15), 7 p.m.
Kinston, NC Regional
Tennessee (37-22) vs. North Carolina-Wilmington (38-21), 3 p.m.
Stony Brook (29-25) at East Carolina (48-11), 7 p.m.

Oxford, MS Regional
Washington (37-18-1) vs. Tulane (38-19), 4 p.m.
Western Kentucky (34-26) at Mississippi (39-19), 8 p.m.
Fullerton, CA Regional
Arizona State (40-16) vs. Pepperdine (28-30), 6 p.m.
Minnesota (38-21) at Cal State Fullerton (36-20), 10 p.m.

Houston, TX Regional
Texas Southern (18-33) at Rice (43-12), 4 p.m.
Texas A&M (39-19) vs. Lamar (41-14), 8 p.m.
Baton Rouge, LA Regional
Army (37-13) at LSU (41-17), 3 p.m.
Southern Mississippi (44-17) vs. College of Charleston (45-14), 7:45 p.m.

Oklahoma City, OK Regional
Florida (40-20) vs. Central Connecticut State (41-15-1), 4 p.m.
UCLA (33-27) at Oklahoma (37-22), 8 p.m.
Coral Gables, FL Regional
North Carolina State (35-22) vs. Florida Atlantic (45-15), 3:30 p.m.
St. Bonaventure (29-20) at Miami (44-11), 7 p.m.

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Southeastern Baseball Camp
Sessions begin July 11
The 30th annual Southeastern Baseball Camp will be held at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley, Alabama. Run by former Cincinnati Reds Scouting Director Julian Mock, the camp features two July sessions for the following age groups: 12 & Under, 13 & Up.
Southeastern prides itself as the oldest baseball camp in the Southeast region, and features an 8-to-1 instructor to camper ratio, 200 swings and two games a day, and even the chance to choose your roommate. Tuition includes insurance and camp t-shirt.
Log onto www.sebaseballcamp.com for more information, including dates, cost, pictures, directions, and an application form.